Nine Niagara University ROTC cadets earn placement on National Order of Merit List

by jmaloni

Thu, Oct 11th 2012 08:50 am

With
last week's results in from the 2013 Army Cadet Command Accessions
Board, Niagara University's ROTC program continues to extend its
distinguished record of achievement.

Nine
cadets from the Second Brigade, Purple Eagle Battalion, made the
National Order of Merit List by placing in the top 20 percent of
competitors:

Andrew
Burger (of Buffalo)

Adam
Burns (North Tonawanda)

Kyler
Dabolt (Varysburg)

Thomas
Eggert (Lockport)

Skylar
Fairchild (Trumansburg)

James
Kemnitz (Mumford)

Matthew
Mulvihill (Middletown)

Jaimee
Schweigert (Canandaigua)

Marc
Skill (Dayton, Ohio)

Only
one other college placed more cadets among the top 20 percent.

In
addition, Dabolt, No. 52, Schweigert, 77, and Eggert, 82, placed
within the top 100 of all finishers. No other second brigade had more
than one cadet among the top 100.

The
Cadet Command Accessions Board meets annually to determine the order
of merit list score of all 5,592 cadets that will graduate and
commission from Oct. 1, 2012, through Sept. 30, 2013. The order of
merit list places each of the cadets in relation to the others based
on academic and leadership factors.

Following
a 29-day training assessment, cadets are scored by their grade-point
average, performance in a national leadership course and in specific
leadership dimensions, observations made by ROTC instructor cadre and
physical fitness test scores. The cadets are then given an overall
rating of Excellent, Satisfactory or Needs Improvement.

Burger,
Dabolt, Eggert, Mulvihill and Schweigert each earned Excellent
ratings while Burns, Dabolt, Kerins and Sutton received Recondo
Badges, which are granted to cadets with the highest levels of
competence in military skills and abilities.

As
a unit, the Purple Eagle Battalion scored a 280 on the physical
fitness test, good for third among 41 programs in its brigade and
25th of 272 institutions nationwide.

"I
have always tried to live by the motto 'deeds not words' and I
believe that the measured metrics reinforce that Niagara University
ROTC is as strong a program as there is in the Northeast," stated
Lt. Col. Paul Dansereau, professor of military science. "The
environment created at Niagara University by the faculty, staff and
administrators as well as by my team's professionalism, provides
the purpose, direction and motivation to the cadets to strive for
excellence. I am very proud of their efforts and I believe they will
pass along the skills and knowledge to continue to sustain the
exemplary performance of the Niagara University ROTC program."

Niagara
University's Army ROTC program is consistently ranked among the
best in the country, garnering the No. 1 standing in the U.S. in 2004
for recruitment, retention and quality of training.

Military
alumni of Niagara include two Medal of Honor recipients, Gen. William
Donovan and Lt. John Bobo, and a humanitarian nominated for
sainthood, Father Nelson Baker. Being in close proximity to Niagara
Falls Air Reserve Station and the regional Military Entrance
Processing Station, Niagara is responsive to the unique needs of
military students, veterans and dependents.

Niagara
University participates in the Department of Veterans Affairs GI Bill
Yellow Ribbon Program, a provision of the Post-9/11 Veterans
Educational Assistance Act of 2008.